Stargate Universe, Season 3, Episode 1 CONTACT
by Douglas Fargo
Summary: This is how I envision SGU continuing on.I decided to do something a little different and write this as a screenplay. Feedback is appreciated. Thanks and enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**SGU, Season 3, Episode 1 (CONTACT)**

**CHAPTER 1  
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**EARTH. STARGATE COMMAND**. Brigadier General Samantha Carter sits unpacking her new office. Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman knocks on the door.

HARRIMAN: General Carter?

CARTER: Yes, Walter, come on in. Sorry about the mess, still unpacking. What can I do for you?

HARRIMAN: Well first, ma'am, General Landry sent a gift… (He slides a new name plate onto the door that says "Brigadier General Samantha Carter, Commander, Stargate Command).

CARTER: Wow…guess it's really official now. It's gonna take some time getting used to this one.

HARRIMAN. (smiling) Yes, ma'am. Dr. McKay is holding on the video link for you. He says it's important. I've transferred it to your terminal.

CARTER: Well, knowing Rodney, everything is important! Thanks Chief.

HARRIMAN: Anytime ma'am (He leaves, closing the door behind him. Carter sits at the desk and presses a key to activate the video link).

MCKAY: Finally.

CARTER: Hi Rodney. Nice to see you too. Been a while.

MCKAY: Oh, Sorry.

CARTER: (smiles) It's ok. Chief said you had something important to tell me?

MCKAY: Yes. Well, ummm, you remember Colonel Sheppard checking in on his way back from taking Teyla, Ronan and Todd back to Pegasus?

CARTER: Yes. And?

MCKAY: You remember how he said the Daedalus stumbled upon an ancient outpost on the way back and found an Ancient power production facility and had found 3 fully charged ZPMs?

CARTER: Yes Rodney, I know. Look, I'm sorry, but I'm really busy. Can you get to the point?

MCKAY: Yes, well, I think you're going to want to cancel what you've got going on and come to Atlantis right away…

(Carter looks at the screen impatiently)

MCKAY: We just figured out a way to dial the Destiny!


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2.**

**EARTH'S MOON. ATLANTIS BASE. Dr. MCKAY'S LAB. CARTER WALKS IN.**

CARTER: Rodney.

MCKAY: SAM!

CARTER: It's great to see you again Rodney. How's Jennifer?

MCKAY: She's great. She's visiting her parents for a little while before she heads on back here.

CARTER: That's good. (sarcastically) I can't believe you actually got someone to marry you!

MCKAY: HEY! Jennifer and I spent a lot of…

CARTER: I'm kidding Rodney! I'm happy for you.

MCKAY: Oh.

CARTER: You had something to tell me about dialing Destiny?

MCKAY: Yes! Well, it was Radek's idea originally…

CARTER: Sharing credit Rodney? Jennifer really _is_ a good influence on you!

MCKAY: HA, HA. Anyways, we figured out that if we can build an interface to tie the extra 3 ZPMs that John found into the city's power system, we should be able to generate enough power to dial Destiny.

CARTER: That's great! But knowing you Rodney, there's always something else…

MCKAY: Yes…well…..

CARTER: Come on Rodney, what is it?

MCKAY: It's not a problem, per se. Just that there's a small possibility that it could…completely drain all 6 ZPMs and cause Atlantis' stargate to explode.

CARTER: How small?

MCKAY: Ummm….50% chance?

CARTER: RODNEY! You want me to go to the President with a 50% chance that it could completely drain all of our ZPMs, not only leaving Earth defenseless, but effectively stranding Atlantis on the moon?

MCKAY: Well, you told us to look into other ways of dialing Destiny…this is it. Besides, even Radeck says that it should work without any problems. Here…look… (he hands her a tablet, who looks it over for a moment)

CARTER: I don't know Rodney. Tell you what, I want you and Radeck to run as many simulations as you can once you've built the interface and installed the ZPMs…and when they show it's there's less than….10% chance that you'll blow us all up…run them again! Look, I've gotta go, but this is the best idea we've come up with yet to help the Destiny since the Langarans still won't let us try with their planet's gate.

MCKAY: Come on seriously…who holds a grudge that long?

CARTER: Oh, like you've forgiven Ronan and John for dumping all that citris fruit in your room so you couldn't get out?

MCKAY: THAT'S DIFFERENT! Those two tried to kill me!

Carter looks at him with a look of disgust

CARTER: See? Anyways, keep at it Rodney!

**EARTH. HOMEWORLD COMMAND.**

LT. General Hank Landry walks into his conference room where Carter is waiting.

CARTER: What did he say sir?

LANDRY: Personally, I thought it was about a bad idea as us trying to force the Langarans to let us use their stargate…but the President and the IOA agree with Dr. McKay. The risk is relatively low that anything other than burning out the ZPMs will happen.

CARTER: Understand sir.

LANDRY: Sam, the President wants you to give it a try…but only after you've looked at all the data and have are reasonably sure you won't blow yourselves up.

CARTER: Reasonably sure?

LANDRY: Look, it's probably never going to be a hundred percent….but it's our only viable option. Besides the supplies, who are you planning to send?

CARTER: Well, oddly enough, Dr. McKay and his wife volunteered to go, but I told them I needed them here with Atlantis since our intel says that the Lucian Alliance is still planning an attack on Earth. We've decided we're only going to send Dr. Beckett. We know they need an experienced doctor…but with conversations we had with Colonel Young before they went into stasis, if there's no way to send anyone back to Earth, he really wants to limit how many people are sent through.

LANDRY: Sounds like a plan. Keep me informed.

CARTER: Yes sir.

**ATLANTIS GATE ROOM, 3 DAYS LATER.**

(General Carter walks into the control room where Dr. McKay and Dr. Zelenka are arguing. Zelenka throws his hands up in disgust and walks away to another console, muttering in Russian)

CARTER: What was that all about?

MCKAY: Oh that? Nothing.

CARTER: Rodney?

MCKAY: It's NOTHING! He doesn't like my idea to use the ancient control chair as an amplifier.

CARTER: Come again?

MCKAY: I had an idea of using 5 Zed PMs all connected to the control chair and using the chair to manipulate how the power is drawn from the ZPMs. If it works, we would only need 5 ZedPMs instead of 6.

CARTER: And if it doesn't work?

MCKAY: There's a slight….(looking in Zelenka's direction)…and I mean SLIGHT…(back to Carter) possibility of it overloading the chair.

CARTER: And overloading the chair...

MCKAY: Could burn out the chair and it'll never work again. But like I said, there's only a slight chance of that happening.

CARTER: How much chance?

MCKAY: Less than 10%

ZELENKA: (mumbling) More like 25%

MCKAY: (looking towards Zelenka for a moment) Less than TEN! Anyways, it doesn't matter because even if there was an overload, I'd be able to funnel the excess power away from chair

CARTER: To where?

MCKAY: I say the most logical place is the gate, but Captain Obvious here says that would cause the gate to overload and explode.

CARTER: That's not much of a solution Rodney. The gate exploding would take out the entire tower.

MCKAY: It would if we didn't have the Daedalus orbiting above to beam it out. Then all we'd have to do is pick off a new gate from the old gate bridge.

CARTER: That'd take a couple of weeks.

MCKAY: Who cares? It's not like we're using it right now anyways.

CARTER: Ok. Let me talk to General Landry. How long to set it up?

MCKAY: A couple of hours.

CARTER: Ok…get started, but be ready to go back to the other way just in case.

MCKAY: Ok. One other thing… I took the small single ZPM interface from the SGC and modified it. From what we know about Destiny's systems, it should connect to the ship's systems with no major problems and provide them with a substantial power boost. At worst, it'll be one less ZPM for us…which still leaves us with 2 more than we had a few weeks ago.

CARTER: Great work Rodney! Let me know when you're ready. (She walks out of the room as McKay and Zelenka start arguing again)

**DESTINY**. The ship drops out of FTL and is pointed towards a star. As the ship passes through the outer edge of the star, the power collectors engage and starts to re-energize the ship. As it finishes, the decks remain dark. Destiny turns away from the star, but doesn't re-enter FTL.

**ATLANTIS CONTROL ROOM.**

MCKAY: And…there! Everything's set and we're ready to go.

General Carter looks over to Dr. Carson Beckett.

CARTER: You ready Carson?

BECKETT: Ready as I can be I guess.

CARTER: Colonel Telford will be here anytime. Once he's here, we'll try to dial. Since we're not sure how long it's going to stay open, we'll send the first supply pallet through with the sensor package to check if it's safe and then we'll send both of you and everything else in one quick shot.

Colonel Telford beams in from the Daedalus.

CARTER: Colonel.

TELFORD: General. Are we ready?

CARTER: We are now. (looking towards Rodney). Ok, dial it up Rodney.

MCKAY: (presses a button on the console). Colonel Sheppard. We're ready to start dialing. Are you ready in the chair?

Colonel Sheppard is sitting in the ancient control chair with Zelenka furiously checking the ZPM device and multiple laptop screens. He looks over at Sheppard and gives him a thumbs up.

SHEPPARD: We're good down here Rodney. Go ahead.

McKay enters a few keystrokes on the computer and the gate starts dialing. As the same moment the ninth chevron begins to lock, the lights all dim under the power strain and a few control panels blow out. Sheppard sits in the control chair feverishly manipulating the controls, trying to control the massive amount of power being drawn through the city's systems. The 9th chevron does lock and the gate swooshes open. The lights return to normal.

MCKAY: Looks like we have a stable connection and the city's power levels look good as well.

CARTER: (pressing a key on the control console). Atlantis base to the Destiny. Come in please. (no response). Destiny, this is General Samantha Carter from Stargate Command. Colonel Young, Dr. Rush...please respond. (still no response)

CARTER: Send the first pallet.

The first pallet gets rolled through the gate. As it reaches its destination, it starts to transmit video back. Carter and Rodney anxiously stare at the screen...


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

The video screen shows Destiny's gate room, dark & empty.

MCKAY: The lights are off, but there's atmosphere. No signs of life near the gate.

CARTER: (Presses the comm button again). Destiny…this is General Samantha Carter of Stargate Command…If anyone is there, please respond. (again, no response). (Looking at Colonel Telford)…What do you think David?

TELFORD: I don't think we can ignore Eli's message. His message said today was going to be the only day Destiny was going to drop out of FTL for the next 5 years. If Dr. Beckett is willing to take the chance, we should go now.

BECKETT: Don't look at me for permission. I knew when I volunteered that this could be a quick trip to nowhere. I'm ready to go.

CARTER: Ok then. Good luck to both of you.

TELFORD: Thanks ma'am.

Telford and Beckett stand by the gate while airmen push several large wheeled carts of packaged supplies through the gate. After the last one, Telford looks around and then steps through the gate. Carson turns to look at Carter, who smiles back at him. He turns back towards the gate, closes his eyes and steps through. Just as he steps through, several consoles around the control room explode in a shower of sparks. Lights everywhere start flashing as the whole complex begins to shake.

CARTER: (looking at Rodney) MCKAY! What's going on?

MCKAY: I DON'T KNOW! There are massive bursts of power running uncontrollably all over the city. (he clicks the button on his headset) Zelenka, what's going on down there? (no answer) ZELENKA?

Suddenly the gate shuts down and everything goes white. From the outside, Atlantis is covered in a white light that's so bright you can't see the city anymore. Just as quickly as it all started, the light returns to normal…showing the spot on the moon where Atlantis used to be.

**DESTINY.**

Telford stands in the dark looking at the gate that just shut off. He turns on his flashlight and looks around.

TELFORD: Dr. Beckett? Are you there? Dr. Beckett?

When he realizes Carson didn't make it through, he quickly turns and heads out of the gate room. He reaches the stasis pods to find everyone still in stasis. He types in a few commands at the control console and Colonel Young's stasis pod activates and opens. He stumbles for just a moment and gathers himself. He immediately looks at Telford.

YOUNG: David?

TELFORD: Yes Everett, it's me.

YOUNG: How? ... Where's Eli?

TELFORD: (Directing Young's attention to the empty pod) I'm sorry Everett. It was empty when I got here.

YOUNG: How long have we been gone?

TELFORD: A little over 6 months. We received a recorded message from Eli from a Keno that he somehow programmed to contact us when Destiny dropped out of FTL to recharge in a star. He told us today was going to be the only day Destiny was going to drop out of FTL

YOUNG: Six months? So we're still in the galaxy with the command ships.

TELFORD: I would say that's a good bet yes, but I haven't been to the bridge yet to find out.

YOUNG: How'd you get here?

TELFORD: Dr. McKay discovered a way to use Atlantis to dial Destiny. We sent supplies. It was supposed to be me and Dr. Beckett from Atlantis, but something must have happened because just after I got here, the gate shutdown.

YOUNG: Go to the bridge and find out where we are and if there are any command ships or drones around. Let's not revive anyone else until we know what's going on. (he starts to head out of the room)

TELFORD: Where are you going?

YOUNG: To find Eli! (he stops and turns back to Telford) It's good to see you David.

TELFORD: You too.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

**EARTH. STARGATE COMMAND**. Everyone is busy making phone calls and checking computer systems trying to find out what just happened.

CARTER: (looking over Chief Harriman's shoulder) Anything Chief?

HARRIMAN: Nothing yet ma'am. Space Command says radar and satellite telemetry both show Atlantis is gone.

CARTER: Get Homeworld Command on the phone. Tell them precisely what has happened and request instructions. Send any information we received from Atlantis in the last half hour to the lab and have Dr. Lee meet me there. Also tell Homeworld Command to have someone standing by the communications stones if they're not already.

HARRIMAN: Yes ma'am. (Carter leaves the room, leaving everyone still discussing what happened)

**DESTINY.**

Colonel Telford is working at the controls on the bridge. After bringing life support back up to normal from minimal levels, he initiates a life sign scan and is disheartened to find only his, Colonel Young and the rest of the crew that's in stasis.

TELFORD: (over the radio) Everett, any sign of what happened to Eli?

YOUNG: Not yet. I've been to the observation deck, his quarters, even the infirmary…nothing.

TELFORD: I hate to say it, but I just did a life sign scan and there's no one but the two of us.

YOUNG: Anything in the ship's log?

TELFORD: I haven't gone through it yet. (Checks the last entry). The last thing in here is that the ship dropped out of FTL an hour ago and just recharged in a star a few minutes after that.

YOUNG: If we haven't left the galaxy yet, then how'd the ship make it past the drones?

TELFORD: I'm not sure yet. It's going to take me a little while to go through the log. Sensors show a command ship near the star, but it doesn't appear to be following us…it doesn't appear to be doing anything at all.

YOUNG: I'll be there in a few minutes. You should go check in with Earth.

TELFORD: Copy that.

**EARTH.**

General Carter is sitting in her office talking on the phone.

CARTER: No sir, not yet. We hope to finish going over the data in the next half hour. Hopefully that will tell us something about what happened. (Richard Woolsey appears at her door, she waves him in and motions for him to take a seat)….yes sir…..Actually he just walked in…..yes sir….I understand. I'll call you when I have something else. (she hangs up the phone and sighs)

WOOLSEY: General Carter.

CARTER: Mr. Woolsey. It's nice to see you again.

WOOLSEY: It's nice to see you too. Wish it were under better circumstances.

CARTER: Hell of a first week huh?

WOOLSEY: It'll certainly be a memorable week.

CARTER: I suppose the IOA is upset about Atlantis.

WOOLSEY: They are. Fortunately they agree with me that it's not your fault. Unfortunately, that also means a loss of our main line of defense if the Lucian Alliance decides to attack.

CARTER: Well, the Daedalus will be back soon, that'll give us 5 Daedalus-class ships to defend Earth.

WOOLSEY: Not quite. The IOA recommended that the Daedalus return to the that ZPM production facility they found in the Pegasus Galaxy. She'll be gone for a while. The Odyssey took some damage during its last mission but repairs should be completed within the next week.

CARTER: That leaves the Apollo, the Hammond and the Sun Tzu.

WOOLSEY: The Sun Tzu is still being repaired.

CARTER: I thought they were finished.

WOOLSEY: They were…until the Chinese government decided to implement a change in the hyperdrive that they had come up with without asking us to check it over and they ended up damaging it beyond repair. A replacement hyperdrive is due to be completed and installed sometime in the next few days. But, with none of them possessing a ZPM, I'm not sure two ships are match for the Lucian Alliance fleet if they decided to attack…even with Asgard weapons.

CARTER: Well, they don't know Atlantis has disappeared yet…so hopefully they'll continue to hold off.

WOOLSEY: I hope you're right General…I really do.

**DESTINY.**

Colonel Young is standing over a console reading the ship's log. Telford comes in.

TELFORD: Find anything yet?

YOUNG: It's hard to tell. The ship seems to have dropped out of FTL right outside the star's coronasphere and immediately started to recharge…as soon as it recharged, it passed right through an active command ship and drones, but they didn't so much as twitch.

TELFORD: How's that possible?

YOUNG: I'm not sure, but I think it's time to wake up Rush and have him try to figure it out. (They both leave and start walking towards the stasis room) What did Homeworld Command say?

TELFORD: They said Atlantis disappeared right after I stepped through the gate. Dr. Beckett stepped through just as something overloaded and exploded. He didn't make it here, so we're not sure what happened to him. They're a little more concerned with what caused Atlantis to disappear in a bright flash of light and where it went.

YOUNG: Was it destroyed?

TELFORD: They don't think so. There's no debris anywhere…it's like it just vanished.

YOUNG: So I guess that means our new supply line was a onetime thing.

TELFORD: For now. The president is still negotiating with the Langaran homeworld to let us use their gate, but they're still upset over us trying to trick them into doing it.

(They round the corner and enter the stasis room. Colonel Young enters a few commands and revives Dr. Rush. After his pod door opens, he steps out and looks at the Colonels).

RUSH: (still trying to get his bearings) Colonel Telford? How did you get here? Where's Eli?

TELFORD: Long story.

YOUNG: Long story short, we don't know what happened to Eli. We've only been in stasis 6 months. Telford got here on what looks to be a one-time gate connection. The ship just passed through a star and recharged, but we're still in the command ship galaxy. In fact, there's a command ship just outside right now…but they're not making any kind of aggressive move, or any move for that matter. We need you to figure out what's been going on these last 6 months.

TELFORD: One other thing…in the supplies I brought along is a fully charged ZPM. Stargate Command thinks you'll be able to adapt the power interface to allow it to plug directly into Destiny's systems.

RUSH: We'll let's have a look than shall we?

YOUNG: You two work on interfacing the ZPM. I'm going to go back to the bridge and keep an eye on that command ship.

RUSH: Even fully charged, this ship can't take another attack from a command ship. We've sustained too much damage. Another battle could permanently damage the engines.

YOUNG: Let's hope it doesn't come to that. We've been sitting here for a while and we haven't been attacked yet. I'm hoping since Eli programmed the ship to drop out at this particular star that he knew the command ship wouldn't attack us for some reason.

RUSH: Wait, Eli intentionally brought the ship out of FTL? Isn't that what you were worried I'd do?

YOUNG: The difference is I know that if Eli did it, he'd know for sure that we'd be ok.

TELFORD: Let's not get into this right now. We need to make sure that if that command ship decides to attack us, we'll be ready for it.

YOUNG: You're right.

TELFORD: What about the rest of the crew? I don't think we should revive everyone, but is there anyone you can think of that could help us right now?

RUSH: No, Eli is the only one I'd want right now, but since he's not here, I guess it'll be up to me, won't it?

YOUNG: Let's leave everyone where they are. If we get attacked by the command ship, they won't be much help and would probably prefer to have just stayed in stasis without ever knowing.

TELFORD: I agree.

YOUNG: You guys take care of the ZPM, I'll be on the bridge. Maybe I'll find something Eli left behind that will let us know what happened to him or what he did to keep the drones from coming after us.

(They head off in different directions. At the same time, unknown to them, the stargate lights up and starts to spin. As the last chevron locks, the gate swooshes to life)


End file.
